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Saturday, 3 October 2015

Crude rises sharply, as U.S. oil rigs fall to lowest levels since 2010

U.S. crude futures rose considerably on Friday, as oil rigs nationwide fell sharply last week providing signals that the wide gulf in the domestic supply-demand balance might be narrowing. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, WTI crude for November delivery traded in a tight range between $44.00 and $45.80 a barrel, before closing at $45.55, up 0.81 or 1.81% on the day. For the week, Texas Long Sweet futures were virtually flat after opening on Monday just below $45.40 a barrel. Although the price for the front month of WTI future contracts has not reached $50 a barrel since mid-July, the November contract has only fallen by roughly 1% over the last month of trading.On the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), brent crude for November delivery wavered between $46.94 and $48.50 a barrel, before settling at $48.17, up 0.48 or 1.01% on the session.

After opening on Monday around $48.30 a barrel, brent futures fell less than 1% on the week. Meanwhile, the spread between the international and U.S. benchmarks of crude stood at $2.62, below Thursday's level of $2.92 at the close of trading.